Naruto: Konoha's Next Generation
by UlquiorraOwns210
Summary: If my fictional outtake on the next generation of Konoha Genin, we meet Anashi and his teammates, as they race to save the Hokage. Meanwhile, Naruto faces the darkness Madara has covered his life with. as for pairings.... not so sure yet, but be hopeful
1. Team 7 Takes Off X2

**NOTE: guys I don't own Naruto or any other material I may draw ideas from. So please don spam post about how my idea loks like so-and-so from such-and-such**

**Kay, this is my first shot at a fanfic…so shoot me down if you see anything you don't like. This is my take on the next generation of Konoha Genin. It takes place during the Fourth Great Ninja War, but its drawing to an end. **

**As for this first chapter, you won't see much of the original characters from the Naruto manga, I just want to make sure you guys understand that those characters won't be as prominent. Yes the original teams 7, and the Konoha 11, are still an important part of the story, and will most likely be main characters and directly involved in the plot, but they won't be featured as much. Hope you enjoy, and here's your debut chapter.**

Within the Hokage's office, the Hokage stood at the windows of the room. Quietly, and to the side, Shizune stood. The Hokage stared towards the village, bathed in the dying glow on the sun. Looking up, the Hokage remarked, "Naruto and Sakura should be heading from that mission, right?" Shizune, caught in the lapse of silence, jumped slightly and quickly replied, "Ah! Yes, Hokage-sama. Their mission, I hear, was a success. They should be here soon."

With that, they heard "Grandma! We're baaack!" Tsunade turned around, an eyebrow raised, yet a rueful smile touched her lips. "Welcome back… and didn't I tell you NOT to call me that?!" But the anger was only half-hearted. Tsunade loved the boy, and had high hopes for him. He and Sakura besides him stood in their ANBU uniforms. Naruto's mask had a fox design on it, while Sakura's had a cat design. At Tsunade's assurance that no one was around, the two took off their masks. Naruto's grinning face appeared from behind his mask and called out "Mission success, Grandma." With that he flipped glove-covered thumbs up. Besides him, the calmer Sakura simply offered a smile, a nod of confirmation.

Tsunade stated, "It's a relief that you managed to take out that crime lord and his organization. They have caused far too many problems for us. Especially that attempt on Suna. Luckily we'd already been there and could help." Sakura's smile became bashful as she stated, "We'll it sort of was a good thing they attacked, as I found out the secret to Chiyo-baasama's Reanimation Jutsu." Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the comment and said, "I'd rather be in a coma than have Suna destroyed." She wryly added, "Though of course, I'd rather be conscious then die in a coma." Naruto who hadn't been listening at all, slammed into the conversation at once. "Taking out that leader was a cinch. That new Fuuton jutsu I told you I'd been working on came in real handy." What was odd was that he wasn't yelling or bouncing off the walls. He stated it with simply a lively look in his eyes, his enthusiasm more under control due to ANBU emotional/mental training, but not one bit daunted.

Tsunade waited until after the mission briefing was over, before giving them the next piece of news. "As you know, due to the war going on, despite it being in its waning sequence, has still kept its hazardous status. Therefore, seeing as I have more than enough ANBU, I'm sending you two back in temporarily as Jonin again. You will lead squads directly into battles and other missions as well. Got it?"

For a moment the two stood there, a bit surprised at her decision, even Shizune was unsure; _we have plenty of shinobi Jonin and Chuunin. There's Kakashi-san, Yamato-san, Genma-taichou, Raido-san…and so many more! Why does she…_until Naruto broke the ice. "Yay…custom outfits." All shared a laugh before, once again, Tsunade became serious. "The rest of your comrades are on important long-term missions, part of the reason why I'm having you guys step down for a while. Shikamaru is out on a mission where he must find and eliminate as many resource posts the opponents had." Naruto and Sakura remained silent. They remembered how stunned they were when they had found out that somehow, Madara had amassed an army to fight the shinobi, and wondered how he could have convinced them to fight hardened shinobi. "Team Kurenai is on a permanent spying mission, and they get so deep into enemy territory, that we tend to lose contact with them, a lot." Naruto and Sakura found themselves surprisingly quiet, unusually intent on hearing the news on their friends. Tsunade looked down with her eyes closed, sighed, and continued, "Team Gai is on the front lines… fitting, but still, they aren't available." She looked up at the pair. "So, I hope I won't have to pull up any more to convince you." "It _would_ be nice to hang around the village again. You can count on us, Tsunade-shishou (master)," Sakura said warmly.

Naruto called out as they turned to leave, "Say, Grandma, hasn't Kakashi sensei been around lately? I haven't been able to feel his chakra within the village lately…" To this Tsunade put on a serious face as she sat at her table. Shizune, for fear of being forgotten, quickly said, "Kakashi was recently given a new team. But, we really need his services, so he and the new Team 7 are already mobilized and are on a secret scouting mission." Naruto looked up in thought while Sakura remarked, "The top secret one, on the Sound Village?" Shizune's faced tinged slightly, almost forgetting the two were ANBU and were usually in on the Hokage's secrets. "That's right. Although, we haven't heard from them and it's been almost a week now… what do you think Hokage-sama?" At this Tsunade closed her eyes and said, "This is also a reason why I called these two back. There first assignment is to go find out what is going on." Opening her eyes, a forceful look in them she stated, "Take anyone with you, but be successful, there is very much to gain, but too much to lose if Team 7's mission is a failure. Now, go!"

"Yes ma'am!" The two called out and teleported away. Shizune breathed a sigh of relief. Tsunade turned to her and said, "I hope Kakashi is alright." Shizune turned and smiled at her mentor, more assuring herself than the Hokage about the silver-haired Jonin's welfare. "Kakashi is strong, and his Genin team is rather powerful for their age. I'm sure they'll be alright."

**ABOUT FIVE DAYS EARLIER**

The leaves gently rustle in the soft spring wind, suggesting all was at peace in the surrounding forest that encompassed much of The Village Hidden in the Leaves. But as Hatake Kakashi led his new Genin team, he was very well aware of the truth. All was _not_ calm. In fact the Five Great Shinobi Nations where at war with Madara Uchiha, one of the few surviving Uchiha clansmen, co-founder of Konoha and legendary genius and warrior. Right now, Kakashi, Anashi Haki, Hanabi Hyuuga, Terutsuyoi (nicknamed Tetsuyo) Inuzuka, and Terutsuyoi's ninja hounds (ninken) Kuro and Shiro, where headed into Otogakure, on a spying mission.

"So, Kakashi-sensei, are you _absolutely_ sure we won't have a chance to fight?" Asked Anashi eagerly. Kakashi rolled his eyes. Normally, he would expect Tetsuyo to ask a question like that, as he hailed from the Inuzuka clan, which was known for its wild, rough, battle loving personalities. But Tetsuyo, with his blonde hair, green eyes, and a tendency to imagine more than ram his fist into someone's face, made it look like he had been forced to join the clan. Surprisingly, it was Anashi who loved to fight. He came from the Haki clan. It wasn't very well known because they were very nomadic, which lied well with their ability to manipulate all five chakra natures, but when the Fifth invited them to find a home in Konohagakure, they gladly accepted and pledged their help.

Kakashi had always been interested in training a Hyuuga. He had always wondered how Gai how managed to put up with Neji. He thought even more so on the opposite thought. Unfortunately, it was not fun. Hanabi learned quickly, and usually never relied on his tutelage, plus she only looked up to her elder Hyuuga family. It did not help that she was also very cold and distant to everyone else in turn, ruining the teamwork sometimes.

Kakashi replied, "Yep, worst case scenario, we do, but most likely we won't, remember we're on a scouting mission, that's all." To this, Anashi frowned and looked away. Hanabi, with her Byakugan activated, yelled out "Everyone stop!" Kakashi waited to see what Hanabi wanted to warn them about. "We are entering a genjutsu's field; we need to stop so I can figure out what kind of a genjutsu it is before we enter". "My Sharingan can also help deduce what kind of genjutsu it is," Kakashi stated, with that he pulled up the left side of his headband and revealed his Sharingan eye.

He closed his right eye, and focused in on the plethora of chakra signatures around him, to his direct left, Anashi's forest green chakra seemed to emit in irregular beats, while Tetsuyo's dark blue, and Kuro and Shiro's similar colors seemed normal, as they were behind him. Hanabi's purple, however, seemed to be sparking erratically as her namesake. "Hanabi, move back, Anashi, same goes for you." Kakashi called out to the Genin. Hanabi, oddly enough, moved forward and to her left, while Anashi turned to the right and said "Wha? Kakashi-sensei what the heck do you mean 'turn back'?" At this, the Jonin raised a questioning eyebrow at his third apprentice. Noticing his master, Tetsuyo jumped and stuttered, "R-Right, sorry sensei." He leaped up to where Anashi stood, (rather perilously) on the branch. Placing his palm on his back, Kakashi noted some of the blue shocking the green, but after that, the green went back to normal… unfortunately Tetsuyo decided to spring a trap, and push Anashi off the branch, who then proceeded to scream as he fell. "YAAAAAH!"

Kakashi sighed. No matter how tense the situation could possibly be, Genin always had to mess things up by being so childish. "HA! Nice one Tetsuyo, got me there bud," Anashi called up from the bottom of the forest floor. As Kakashi poured his own white chakra into Hanabi he dryly stated "Oh, absolutely fantastic, but hey, Anashi take some credit, your scream only alerted about every sentry within fifty yards." At the sound of leaves rustling a few meters ahead, Kakashi smiled and gave him a sarcastic, over the top, thumbs up, "Looks like you got your fight after all." But the tone that was applied with that praise let Anashi know he was in for a D-rank marathon once he was back to Konoha. Tetsuyo then gulped nervously, hoping he wasn't included, while Hanabi wasted no time with jokes, as she activated her Byakugan and assumed the Jyuken (Gentle Fist) fighting stance.

Three Sound nin burst from the trees ahead, the leader of the group, a man carrying a large drum on his back, and carrying two large drum sticks called out "Ninja Art: Reverberating Drum!" With that, he flipped the drum over so that it pressed against his front, and turning sideways; he smashed one stick against the drum producing a large, powerful shockwave. Kakashi quickly jumped up, while the Genin, who had practiced this formation, leapt in teams on each side. Hanabi dropped down to the forest ground, while Tetsuyo and Kuro jumped to the right and Anashi and Shiro leapt to the left.

Meanwhile, the sound wave passed by harmlessly, but this did not disappoint the leader, on the contrary he grinned, and thought to himself, _well, well, this is better than the sorry bunch that came from the Cloud Village, no doubt the one in the air is the 'Copy-Cat Ninja Kakashi', quite the adversary. I'm not sure if Shirabe and Yureru can take him on_. At that, Kakashi preformed a flurry of seals and called out "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" At that, a large almost perfectly rotund flame sphere rocketed towards the three. Shirabe, the female of the team, calmly pulled out an odd, yet intricate trumpet and stated "Note One: Dissuading Tune." She blew on her trumpet and Kakashi noted how the chakras laced within the sound waves slowly dismembered the fireball. At this, Kakashi raised a hand signal, not a covert one and perfectly understandable. He raised his fist, and smashed it down on the other palm.

At the signal Anashi grinned fiercely, _here we go!_ While Tetsuyo took a few deep breaths on his end, calming his nerves, _oh boy, hope I don't mess up_. "Okay!" he called, "Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry: Man Beast Clones!" Shiro, who was with Anashi, promptly turned into a fanged and clawed version of Tetsuyo, and the same happened to Kuro. Then, he activated the All Fours jutsu, and the dual teams of two launched their attack. Tetsuyo, Kuro, and Shiro all applied pressure to the team by activating their Serrated Fang Combo, which involved all three of them using Piercing Fang in a wild course, ensuing chaos on the opponents end. Meanwhile, Anashi rushed in and attacked the other Sound Nin, Yureru, the bigger, thicker member and sister to Shirabe, with a jumping roundhouse. The brute blocked easily, and sent out a mighty, meaty fist back. At this, Anashi grabbed the fist, swung forward off, and slammed his fist into the Sound Nin's face. But the opponent just chuckled, and threw the child away.

At this, Anashi threw something out of his tool pouch with great accuracy. At first, the big beefy nin thought it was a smoke bomb, but after one whiff, he realized what it was. A stink bomb. At first he was enraged, but an instant, later, he didn't feel anything after three whirling bodies smashed straight into his torso, knocking him off the tree trunk he had been firmly planted too, and sent him plummeting downward. At first, Shirabe glanced with concern, and then muttered, "Idiot." Sighing, she dove after him to help him before he landed on his head. Kakashi meanwhile, who had landed and engaged the leader, Genshikisha, in a taijutsu match thought to himself, with a quick glance backward, _trust the class clown to come up with something like that, and don't worry about the shy kid on doing what he's told._ But that momentary lack of concentration was all Genshikisha need to jab Kakashi hard enough to lose his footings. Kakashi inwardly cursed his overconfidence, and rushed back in.

Meanwhile, when Yureru had landed (and apparently, not harmed himself at all despite the high drop) he had cemented his position in unconsciousness. When Shirabe landed, she didn't deem it necessary to check the location, assuming the three boys and the dog clones had been the only attack force. So it wasn't surprising when she suddenly keeled over and landed besides her brother. She let out a harried breath, and snarled "What the-, where the hell did _you_ appear from." Eyes full of disdain, Hanabi remarked, "You really shouldn't let your guard down. A shinobi never lets his opponents get behind him." Hanabi, a little surprised, found herself quoting her sensei's words. While her opponent gasped and tried to get up, Hanabi reflected on how Kakashi was good, _but Father Hiashi is more important! I _need_ to fulfill his expectations! It's not my fault Hi- _, but with a shake of her head and the realization her opponent was no longer behind her, snapped Hanabi back into focus. Realizing that an attack was most likely was coming from behind; she re-activated her Byakugan, as she started to twirl. Strands of chakra whipped around her and formed a protective sphere, and she called out "Eight Trigrams: Rotation!" the leaping kunoichi was immediately knocked back to where her brother lay, and this time, for quite a while.

Nearby, she saw their leader drop, and Kakashi-sensei hurtling towards him. As he pinned the still-struggling ninja down, he placed his forefinger and middle finger against his forehead, and the ninja immediately stopped struggling. Anashi, Tetsuyo, and the ninken dropped down nearby. Anashi glance at Hanabi, smirked, and said "Looks like you missed all the action, too bad. Well, not really, as there is OBVIOUSLY a reason I was chosen on the strike team and you weren't." Hanabi flashed him an overly sweet smile and retorted, "Obviously it's because you're expendable." At this, Anashi glared furiously away, the hope that maybe, just maybe, he might have won a verbal bout against the Hyuuga, was crushed. Tetsuyo laughed as he pet his dogs and joked, "Always like that, aye guys? If one of you killed the other in their sleep I wouldn't be surprised. Sad, but not surprised, right Kakashi-sensei?" But the sensei was not pretending to be amused this time, and Tetsuyo sensed the foreboding presence of a lecture looming in. "You're right Tetsuyo, they really are unfortunately too close to taking out each other. I thought when we first banded together as master and apprentice…s" he momentarily hesitated, noting the lack of authority that last phrase robbed him of, " we learned how teamwork was as vital to a team as blood is to humans. What's up now? We're in a war mission- a spying mission no less- and you're squabbling like children. I want this behavior to stop now." Anashi opened his mouth angrily to yell back (partially fueled by the fact he saw a trace of a smirk on Hanabi's turning face) but the seriously look his sensei gave him as he adjusted his headband over his eye, terminated the thought. He settled with an angry frown. Meanwhile Tetsuyo, who had set the task upon himself to tie up the unconscious shinobi, reflected on when the two of his friends started to argue ceaselessly.

It was back when they had only been Genin for a while. Since there was a war going on, and the threat of an any moment attack from Madara and his mysteriously attained army, sensei's ignored the normal schedule of things, and instead of learning more about the individuals and the team chemistry, and more on battle abilities. But, at one-point, Kakashi's team was called for to take a break from war services while other shinobi headed out in battle in their place. Then, Kakashi decided to use his bell test on his new team. And, while they had banded together to get the bells, the last few moments of the experience sparked something a little more than a rivalry. Tetsuyo could imagine it as if it had happened yesterday.

_All three Genin stood panting. Anashi, who had an annoying habit of boasting when he felt weak, whispered rather audibly to Tetsuyo, "Good thing that Hyuuga girl staid outta our way huh?" With an uneasy look on his face, Tetsuyo had turned to look at Hanabi, not wanting to agree, and get Hanabi angry, but also not wanting to refuse, and have Anashi on his back. Hanabi had been glaring full force, and, as usual whenever she responded to Anashi's jibes, she took it way too far. "Out of the way hmm? If I remember correctly, you where the one who activated his trap next to the lunchboxes. That says something, like say, lack of determination, no brain, and a knack for failure." The all too sweet smile plastered on her face. Anashi's face burned with embarrassment. "Ha! It's only because_ I _did all the work. Naturally I'd be tired. If you'd helped, maybe we would've gotten a bell! You should try something better then poking someone with a glowing finger." At this Hanabi lost control and yelled "I may stand for you to insult me! But I will _not_ let you get away with trying to insult my clan!" At her provocation, Anashi leapt at her while Tetsuyo frantically waved his hands, trying to yelp out a "Stop!" but finding it oddly out of his grasp. Lying on the floor beneath him, the two ninken seemed to be trying to fade from existence. Meanwhile, the two had been clashing for a moments, while Tetsuyo simply stood there, eyes wide, mouth gaping, when Kakashi had arrived. "What is this!? I _just finished_ telling you about teamwork, and this is what happens? Anashi! Your mouth is far too big, and if you can't back them up, it'll show how weak you really are." Shamed for the second time in a few moments, Anashi furiously turned around and stomped away. Hanabi's amused smirk was wiped next. "Hanabi, honestly, what makes you think you're so superior to everyone else? Yes, you are indeed powerful and gifted with a great ability, but any ninja who doesn't acknowledge teamwork as his greatest strength is bound to fall." Hanabi glared and looked down rather bashfully. Tetsuyo, rather relieved that the fight was over said, "Yeah, I tried to stop them, but those two…" However, Kakashi also had his reserves for the shy boy. "Terutsuyoi," he began, and Tetsuyo knew his sensei was ready to dish out his punishment. He had used his full first name! "A shinobi cannot dither around hoping the problem sorts out itself. You need to learn to break out of your shell, and do things on your own." Tetsuyo went to say something… then closed his mouth and sighed. The team, (later on) had only been able to pass when they executed a brilliant plan that earned them a bell._

And now, the bickering had returned. Sometimes, he just couldn't stand those two sometimes. Hanabi was beautiful (though Tetsuyo would never admit it) and powerful, but she always looked for a chance to prove herself superior, and was rather prickly when it came to friendships. Anashi was his best friend, and almost a beacon of confidence. Tetsuyo knew that Anashi held some doubts about himself, but his willpower and confidence inspired Tetsuyo. Still, both could be unbearable. Kakashi looked toward the Inuzuka boy, and seeing as he had tied up the opponents efficiently, called out, "Okay guys, let's head for a shelter, Hanabi scout for one with the Byakugan, meanwhile, we'll head for the top of the treetop to see if anyone else noticed our dramatic entry." Anashi, always confident and ready for a laugh snickered, "Or as Gai-san would say, DYNAMIC ENTRY!!" At this, even Hanabi couldn't repress a smile and a small laugh.

Hanabi finally scouted a very small, disguised shack far off into the forest. At first, Kakashi was going to decide against it, but then something odd occurred. By then, the three Sound Nins had awakened, and realizing that they could not break free, they slumped unhappily in their bonds. When Hanabi mentioned the shack, the big one, Yureru, gave a start and gave them a nervous glance. At this, the leader hoped they hadn't noticed. But Kakashi had made a point of _dramatically_ noticing it, and changed his mind. At that, Genshikisha contented himself with a murderous glare at his teammate. As Team 7 made its way through the forest, Kakashi could only wonder what was in store for them at the mysterious shack.

**KONOHA**

Naruto let out a happy sigh as he walked down the streets of Konoha again. Besides him were his two teammates, Sakura and Sai. It had been a long time since the three had walked, let alone together. Overjoyed at the fact he no longer had to be so serious and calm as he usual was within the ANBU, Naruto let out a big grin just because he could. Slinging his arms around the other's shoulders, he said, "So! How 'bout we head towards Ichiraku's for a bite?" Sai sighed and said, "How about we don't, as we have a mission. We should head out as soon as possible." Sakura couldn't help but agree, "He's right Naruto, and we have recovered from the last mission. We can grab a bite when we get back." Naruto pouted then stated alright, get into battle gear, pack and be at the main gate in half an hour or so," at his command the three swiftly teleported away.

Back at his apartment, Naruto stared around the familiar place, and realized he hadn't been there in a while. He ran towards the fridge and found an expired carton of milk, and a memory flashed within him, _he had drank a carton of bad milk on his first day as a Genin… he had been so tired, he hadn't realized the sour taste,_ a wince tinged Naruto's smile. He continued onward towards the room, and found a travel pack that had a huge whole through the bottom. Again, a memory flashed through him, _he had been leaving on a mission, and had packed ridiculously too much, weighing himself down…the next time he had used the pack it had torn, much to his anger._ Naruto continued to look around. It felt so oddly comforting to be in his old apartment again. Perhaps it been simply because he hadn't entered it in many months or possibly because his hardened time with the ANBU was over, and even his body was relaxing within the familiarity of his home. At last, he entered his room. He stared at the too small bed and furniture. (He made a mental note to get a bigger bed… he needed to sleep ya know) and spotted the familiar picture on his nightstand. There they stood, he angrily facing the picture frame as if it had done him a great wrong, Sasuke looking nonchalant as usually. In fact, the only people who seemed happy were Sakura and Kakashi.

Naruto looked sadly at the younger Sasuke. Revenge had hurt him very greatly. After his attack on the Kages, Sasuke had faded into the shadows, and despite their best efforts, Naruto and Sakura couldn't find a single lead on him. Naruto then turned to his sensei, and with a determined look, turned to leave to help his sensei. Except one thing. As he turned, he noticed Sakura's apartment across the street, and of all the places she could have possibly chosen to undress, it was at her room that faced Naruto's. The first thought that popped into his mind as his face tinged tomato red was,_ You'd never notice under her uniform…_ then _wait a second that's _Sakura_ you can't talk about her like that, she's your friend, and besides you _know_ what she'd do if she caught you._ With that foreboding thought lingering on his mind (and other things too) he turned and fled from the room.

Meanwhile, Sakura turned and cast a suspicious glance across the street. She thought she'd heard something fall in Naruto' apartment. She thought for a second, then dispelled the rather rude thought. _Naruto would never do something like that. Would he?_ As it was, she finished slipping on her boots, and teleported down into the streets, ready to go.

When the three arrived at the gate, they couldn't help but hold back a chuckle at what the other two managed to procure for an outfit. Naruto had replaced the old red cloak he had worn during Pain's attack. However, he had upgraded it with the kanji for Second Sage. He had replaced the old orange jacket with a long sleeve black shirt, with the standard flak jacket over it. Underneath, he kept the orange pants with the black sideline, and the sandals. Tightening the headband, he grinned at the others.

Sakura wore a qipao dress reminiscent to her Genin days, however it was a bit shorter, and a bit looser, better for battle. She had the white circle design on the front and the kanji for the cherry blossom on the back. She wore black wrist gloves that tapered between her middle and ring fingers. Also, she'd kept her shin and wrist guards. She also wore shin high black boots, and wore her headband in her hair, as usual. Sai on the other hand, kept his ANBU uniform but simply without the armor and mask. He wore his headband on his head.

"Well, here goes," said Sakura bracingly. As the wind blew behind them, the three ran out towards their former sensei.

**BACK WITH TEAM 7**

Kakashi stood at the top of the shack, and called back, "Anashi, find anything yet?" A bored voice that sounded as if it was resigned to forever repeat the same thing called out, "No…can we leave?!" "Tetsuyo?" Kakashi inquired. "Nope, nothing in here Kakashi-sensei. " He irritably added, "Anashi shut up this is part of the mission." The two began to squabble while the mentioned sensei sighed after the status report. When the Sound Nin had given away that the abandoned shack might have something useful within, he had immediately decided to check it out. He had Anashi check out the grounds, and Tetsuyo the rooms, while Hanabi looked for anything , it seemed that the possibility was simply a dud. Stuttering, Yureru said "S-see? Nothing there, I was just surprised you guys found us." Kakashi noted the obvious lie in his voice as well as the murderous glance the leader, Genshikisha, sent to him. However, Genshikisha smoothly added, "It's true though. There is nothing here. We were worried you would discover were our comrades' posts are, when you mentioned our post, the shack, we got worried." Kakashi would normally have not been convinced, but the idea of going here hadn't convinced him in the first place anyway. As he begin to yell out he command to leave, Hanabi called out, "Quickly! In the basement." At this, both Anashi and Tetsuyo put a sock in it and leaped down to find out what it was the Hyuuga girl had found.

When Kakashi reached the basement, what was discernable from his face showed disappointment. Hanabi had her hands on a scroll, but the scroll was dirty and torn in many places. Then, Kakashi noted what had made Hanabi gasp. "This…this is a plan to assassinate the Hokage!" Hanabi stood there her mouth open. Kakashi quickly snatched the scroll and read what was discernable.

**Send in… as trade carava… should cause urest, and ope… can have multiple…**

**Have ..sumu's men make a …threat to … then send in the ……….**

**Possible that the new… may …**

**Worst case scenario we blow… have t… then have …**

**Then it will start a …**

**Avoid the Sleepi…**

**Take out all…..**

And that was it to the scroll. Kakashi burned with frustration. Why did it reveal so little. If he tried he could come up with something but it made no sense, maybe if—

Just then he heard a cry of triumph from outside. Kakashi swiftly turned to see all three of his apprentices still standing with him. In shock he spluttered, "_None_ of you though to _guard the prisoners?!_" Anashi smiled weakly and said, "I…wanted to…see what Hanabi found?" While Tetsuyo moaned, "Oh noooo! Now we'll have to fight them again." While Hanabi simply raised a hand and said, "Let them come, even with their reinforcements, which they so obviously must have brought, we shall win." This news was apparently too much for Tetsuyo, "Terutsuyoi, you are in _deep shit_." Tetsuyo cried to himself. Kakashi was wearily getting ready for battle when he heard a battle cry, a few thumps, a squawk of fury, and then all was silent.

Silently, Kakashi started up the steps slowly and quietly, and mentioned for his students to do the same. Eyes focused, they started after him (Anashi a little too eagerly, Tetsuyo a little too relunctantly, and Hanabi rather too seriously). He wanted no one to know they were here, as they couldn't be sure as to what had happened. When they reached the top Kakashi's eyes widened at what he saw, _well, I'll be…_

On the roof, a figure hoisted the recaptured Sound Nins onto his shoulders and nodded at his senpai. Another voice cooed, "Miss us?" And in between stood Uzumaki Naruto, grinning and said, "Kakashi-sensei! Long time no see."


	2. Reminisce and Greetings

**I don't own any of the material from the ;Naruto" franchise. Hope you enjoy, review and comment, sorry for my absnese (for those of you who read the first chapter) I still have to get used to working on a deadline.**

Chapter 2 – Reminisce, and Greetings

It was late into the night when Team 7 entered Konoha and headed back to their apartments. When the team had discovered the assassination document, (as well as the rest of Team Kakashi) they had immediately put off the mission to head back and brief the Hokage over what had transpired. Meanwhile, the Sound team had been arrested and was, supposedly, to be interrogated. Meanwhile, the three Genin had happily headed back to their houses.

Anashi lay down on his bed, his head propped up on his pillow. His bed faced the rather large window that faced the village. A bit tired, his head sunk and snapped up in a stupor. Blearily, his forest green eyes passed over the room, looking but not seeing. On his closet door, his black shirt with the flame pattern hung, along with his khaki shinobi pants. Around the rest of the room, half opened books, detailing the arts of being a ninja, lay on the floor, abandoned to pass on their knowledge to the fluffy carpet underneath. Additionally, letters, other clothes, lay on the floor. If Anashi's mother walked in and saw the pigsty, she would, no doubt, lose her mind. Anashi winced; _I'll have to pick that stuff up in the morning. _His mind continued to rewind earlier and earlier into the day. He lighted upon the event when they had returned back to the village.

The three apprentices were eager for news, as the senior ninja had spent most of the time ahead of the Genin and spoke things out quietly.

However, none of the ninja said anything to them. With a quick series of goodbyes, the four ninja left them.

Tetsuyo sighed and said, "Glad that mission was over. I didn't like it one bit." Hanabi turned a surprise glance at her teammate.

"Really, but you perform excellently in other missions. I had no idea you hated them. You have great abilities, and wield them well. Why don't you like these missions?" Tetsuyo looked around in discomfort, unaware that his teammates weren't aware of his most distinct personality trait.

"Not that I don't like going on missions, but I find them," here he hesitated, flipped them both a quick, fearful glance, before closing his eyes and forcing out, "scary." Anashi's eyes widened and mouth dropped, Hanabi, who had far more tact that her teammate, simply stared in surprise.

Tetsuyo, whose eyes were still closed, winced in the silence. "I-I want to prove myself, but I can't help but get a little jumpy every time Hokage-sama gives us a mission to attack someone, or go into enemy territory, I just, get nervous."

At this, Anashi exclaimed, "Oh! I get it! Hanabi, he's got 'noob's fright'! His problem is he can't repress it." Anashi spoke as if he were speaking on a topic he knew greatly about. Tetsuyo sweat dropped at having his fear misplaced as the 'noob's fright'. Hanabi turned an exasperated face to her teammate at the childish name before turning back to the blond Inuzuka.

"What he means is everyone has this fear, Tetsuyo. It's natural to feel afraid. The thing is to learn to control it. A person who controls himself with fear is destined to fall." Tetsuyo looked at her with surprise at the dire words. Somehow, from her stare, he could feel the strength he needed to repress it. But then, he immediately turned away and said, "Yeah, I, I guess so."

But all three had turned back to face each other and stared as if they had just witnessed one of Gai's crazy antics. Anashi abruptly broke the silence. He lifted a lazy hand to Hanabi who swiftly returned the farewell. Grinning, he turned to Tetsuyo and said, "See ya!"

But as Anashi lay on his bed, with the moon steadily rising, he sadly reflected on what all three had gleaned. Did they really know each other at all? Or did they just assume that they did since they were on the same team? He reflected for a moment on what he had thought of his teammates before today. He had thought that Tetsuyo, while not as enthusiastic, was the type one could liken to a little brother that was shy, but had his own cheekiness to him. He suspected Tetsuyo simply lacked leadership qualities.

But now, now he realized that Tetsuyo was far from that. He was someone who struggled every day to keep pushing himself. For some reason, this scared Anashi, although, he couldn't exactly figure out why. Then there was Hanabi. Her confident attitude, coupled with their rather brutal verbal sparring, led Anashi to conclude she was a haughty, self-absorbed person. But, her kindness in how she reacted to Tetsuyo had surprised him, to say the least.

In fact if he truly admitted to himself (as he tried not to on his way home) he felt very sad that he had assumed so wrongly about the other two. Did they think of him as he feared they did? A loud, pugnacious idiot? Anashi sighed as a rather philosophical thought hit him. _The more you think you see in someone, the more they are hiding from you._

The next morning, after meeting at the city center, Kakashi (who had arrived rather late, much to the displeasure of his current and former teams) promptly said, "Guys, hate to be blunt, but I have to head out again."

Before he could finish the statement, the trio promptly attacked him with yells. "WHAT?! Um, what about my training Kakashi-sensei, how 'bout that?!"

"Wait why aren't we coming? You're supposed to watch us sensei, what happens when you're not here? I'll be stuck with Anashi! You can't do this sensei, please don't leave!"

"Excuse me, but whatever dilly-dallying you plan on undertaking, I _refuse _to let you go. You have been charged with my training and I won't let you slack off on your assignment."

When the barrage hit him, a sigh escaped him. The lost monologue, directed at him by Hanabi, caused him to sweat drop. _These kids…I'd rather deal with three kiddie Naruto's again._ He then raised his hands and waited for silence.

"Look, I understand this disrupts the program a little. But, lucky for you guys, my teammates have gladly accepted to take each one of you on as apprentices." At this, all three senior ninja snapped a peeved look at their former sensei. Kakashi smiled widely, well, at least he pretended to. That way, he could warrant the closed eye that wasn't hidden. "Well, assign yourselves a Genin. I'm off." With that, the Jonin teleported away.

Naruto turned to stare at the children. "Ladies first," he said grinning at Sakura. She glared at him and sighed, putting a hand to her forehead.

"All right, all right." She looked up and assessed the three. She lighted upon the kunoichi of the team. "Hanabi, right?"

She asked. The girl turned a cold eye, and seemed to muster up the disdain she responded with. "Of the Hyuuga. Yes."

Sakura winced. She was such a harsh girl. Somehow, Sakura sensed the harshness of her manner was forced. _She's building a shell around herself. She feels only she can do what needs to be done…the Hyuuga, they insist on burdening members so greatly, even the children._ "Well, it'll be fun; I can teach you some important things before the upcoming Chuunin exams."

At this, Anashi exploded. "No way!! The Chuunin exams. So cool, so cool!" At this, he turned to Tetsuyo and started wildly gesturing and yelling about how great it would be to be Chuunin, and no more Kakashi-sensei giving them D-rank missions, and how they could boss Hanabi (for surely, she would not become a Chuunin!) while Hanabi's eyes momentarily lost their contempt and widened with surprise. They flicked to Naruto, and then back down to the ground, where she seemed lost in thought.

Sakura winced, yet again, at Anashi's outburst. _He is so like Naruto. _Turning back to Hanabi, she called out, "You don't mind being my apprentice for a while, right?" Hanabi, snapping to attention, nodded. Hanabi thought to herself, _I hope she has something useful to teach me…the last time I went to a Chuunin exam, I watched brother Neji fall in defeat to Naruto-san! I…do I have what it takes? I hope Sakura-san can teach me._

Sai immediately said, "I call Tetsuyo." Naruto, who had been about to utter the same thing, stared in shock at Sai. 'I call'? Sai _never_ spoke in informal talk, let alone slang. But that was not the worst of it. He, Uzumaki Naruto, was stuck with the biggest brat since he himself had become a Genin.

Both Naruto and Anashi glanced at each other angrily. Naruto roared, "NO way! I don't wanna deal with this loud brat!!"

Sakura and Sai both shared a secret glance. Neither wanted to admit that Naruto had been quite a "loud brat" himself, Sakura especially knowing how much a fool he had been.

Anashi was screaming, "He is such a moron! Why the hell would I go under his tutelage! Kakashi's mentioned the kind of jutsu _you're_ good at! And they're useless!"

Tetsuyo and Hanabi, too, shot each other a stare, both thinking the same thought. The real moron was Anashi.

Naruto flushed and recovered, "So?! They're cooler than anything _you_ can come up with! Besides…they're pretty useful."

The next morning, Anashi grumbled about town. He mused how Naruto was far too much like Kakashi in terms of tardiness. However, Naruto seemed to take it to the next level, as he was missing from any possible place that Anashi should have found him in. He tried his new sensei's apartment. The Hokage Tower, Ichiraku's, but failed to find him. Puzzled, (and rather irritated) he headed towards the training fields. As he jogged lightly and breathed deeply as he ran, he felt his anger draining away. In fact, by the time he sighted Naruto, sitting cross legged in one of the fields, he felt rather bemused and curious.

Naruto turned to look at his apprentice, looked at him with surprise, and then said, "Oh yeah." Emitting a nervous laugh, he said, "I was just uh, admiring the scenery, you see, the uh—flowers are very…erm." Anashi's face sank further and further into his palm. _And here I thought he was being cool, and leading me here to calm myself down. Guess I thought that out too much._

Shaking his head, Anashi called out, "Um, I don't mind that you forgot, but, let's start training already. You sitting there giving off that fake laugh makes you look lame." To accentuate his sensei's lameness, he flipped him an equally lame thumbs down.

With a sigh, Naruto stood up and said. "Can't."

A dangerous look smoldered in Anashi's eyes. "Can't…what?" But the exasperated look in his apprentice's eye told Naruto he knew the answer.

"We can't start training you just yet. We have to complete your Chuunin exam forms as well as head into town. There are some people there I want you to meet. I'm pretty sure you haven't met any of the other students yet, right?"

At this the apprentice was rather surprised. He hadn't thought about the fact that there may be other students within Konoha. Looking up, the student said, "Okay, it'll be cool to see the other Genin! Let's go!"

Back at home, Tetsuyo sat back and appreciated his work. The ink had worked itself in the form of a cat.

He remembered back towards his training session with Sai. The Jonin had taught him (after a rather strenuous taijutsu session) that Tetsuyo needed to work on his range of attacks. They tried ranged jutsu, but Tetsuyo wasn't the best at molding his chakra perfectly, and wasn't the type that could dish out a sequence of hand seals during a heated fight. He didn't think much at all during fights. He just reacted. With a snap of the Tiger seal, he was whirling away. So, Sai had pulled out his last option. Pulling out a bottle of ink and removing the cork, he asked Tetsuyo to use his chakra to draw something on the scroll lying flat on the floor.

At first, the Inuzuka had been rather confused as to how this worked. Sai had refused to help, saying that if he figured it out on his own. First, he tried literally pushing the ink with his chakra. This resulted in Sai being doused multiple times. Giving him a nervous laugh, the blonde had set back to work trying to figure it out. Then, as he accidently over extended his chakra out of his fingers. Then something interesting occurred. The chakra seemed almost to enter into the ink, then moving his fingers, the ink moved around as well, swishing about the paper, but never spilling or smudging. That had been the end of that, as Sai had a mission, so the sensei sent the apprentice back, telling him to practice molding the ink into a drawing.

What Tetsuyo marveled the most about the ink techniques was that they never required too much chakra and that molding it was rather unnecessary. Once the drawing was complete all one had to do was pour in their energy and then the beasts could attack, or creep, crawl or anything really as long as the user's imagination could come up with a scenario.

Stopping his training for a bit, Tetsuyo walked over to his window. Outside, he caught a glimpse of Naruto and Anashi walking side by side towards the main street. Anashi seemed to be prattling away, while Naruto looked as if he wished to be anywhere but besides his student.

Sighing, Tetsuyo's mind wandered back to what would be occurring in just a couple of days. The Chuunin exam. When it had been first mentioned, Tetsuyo had felt a flutter of uncertainty. Could he do it? But, what if he hindered the team, or wasn't smart enough to complete test, or… _Or, or, or._ _All I do is get all jittery. Why can't I be energetic like Anashi, or calm and smart like Hanabi? I guess it's only me ruining the team chemistry._

It was, however, at that instant that Tsume Inuzuka barged into the room. "Tetsuyo, what the hell are you doing in doors?! Everyone's out and about and you're here skulking like no tomorrow!" She barge past him, opened the window he had been look at all the way to the top, grabbed Tetsuyo's collar, and proceeded to fling him out of it headfirst. "You're not allowed back in here until MIDNIGHT!!!" As Tetsuyo scampered off, a soft smile lighted her face. "Have fun kiddo. You need to get out there; it's for your own good."

After Tetsuyo walked around a corner, a voice called out to him. "Talk about _out_ and about. I saw your mother fling you out the window." Whipping around, Tetsuyo sighted Hanabi, and gave her a nervous laugh in greeting.

"Oh, haha, you saw that? Um… she can be rather energetic. I mean… she still hasn't told Kiba-nii (brother) about me yet... That's what happens when you go on a super long mission…" Realizing that Hanabi's eyes had changed from nonchalant to rather amused shock, Tetsuyo quickly changed the subject. "So what brings you to this nick of the woods, aye?"

Casting him a baleful glance, Hanabi simply pointed behind her. Following her finger, he saw the Hyuuga compound. "Oh, right. You live in this nick of the woods." Sensing the conversation going in the complete wrong direction, Tetsuyo, yet again found himself quickly changing the subject. "I heard there are other Genin hanging out today, would you like to join them?" Hanabi's anger faded to a nod, and the two teammates set off together.

"So, how as your training with Sakura-san? Did she teach you something cool?" Tetsuyo eagerly asked.

At this, Hanabi's memory flashed to earlier in the day.

"_Actually, to be honest Hanabi, there won't be any time to actually start teaching you anything, as the Chunnin exams starts the day after tomorrow. That doesn't mean we can't do anything though. Here, let's spar._

_The master and student proceeded to fight, Sakura obviously giving only a bit of her true abilities. As they fought, Sakura noticed something of interest. When Hanabi attacked with the Jyuken, her fingertips seemed to emit traces of blue light. Hanabi also seemed to tire a little faster than expected of the frugal consumption of chakra the Jyuken utilized. A second glance alerted to Sakura that was excess chakra pouring out of the Hyuuga's fingers. "Okay, stop here. I know what we can work on. Chakra control." After pointing out the mistake Hanabi, she set her up with a simpler exercise to control the flow of her chakra better. _

_Later on, the two had sat side-by-side on a small hill. Hanabi looked to her pink haired sensei, and noted how calm she looked. Finally, Hanabi asked her what she had been itching to ask. "Sakura-sensei, how did you become an ANBU?" _

_Sakura regarded her with surprise. Turning back towards the sky she replied. "Well, to keep it simple. It took a LOT of hard work on my part. I can't even begin to imagine how I'd survived before I attained my present skills. I know I'm not the type of ninja that can attack or support through ninjutsu. So, I worked my best with what I had. I worked on my agility, and refined my genjutsu." Sakura stopped for smile for a moment. "Even Kurenai-san said my abilities were rare."_

_At this Hanabi gave the kunoichi a pointed look. "I don't wish to offend you, but, isn't genjutsu rather pointless? It is only an illusion and dispelling it is rather easy."_

_Again, Sakura turned and smiled. "Fool the mind, and the battle is won. I've seen many shinobi continue fighting even with arms and legs torn off. Naruto is a perfect example. He is truly an endurance freak. But, genjutsu is so much more. It isn't about just making your opponent think you're there. There is a lot more to it, and only weak genjutsu is dispelled. The powerful, multi-layered genjutsu is the one I practice. But you make a good point, once my genjutsu is dispelled, what do I do?"_

_Sakura answered herself when Hanabi paused. "Simple. I have no bloodline, or special power of my own. I had to work with what I had. I kept on working with techniques like the Teleportation, Shadow Clone, and even dappled in Time/Space ninjutsu because of my precise chakra control. I worked on raising my stamina, and, once I learned I had a fire chakra nature, worked on developing those as well. I learned to plan ahead of a fight, instead of rush into it and hope for the best. It was hard, my trainers were very strict, but look were it got me. I'm eons away from what I used to be. If you stick to it, you too can become an elite ninja."_

_At this Hanabi recoiled. Did…was it possible that Sakura truly knew how she felt? In fact, as she looked at the serene kunoichi, and thinking of the power that lay within her, Hanabi felt both determined and sad. Determined, for here was the proof that people set their own limits. But she was sad, because her distance against her comrades had not helped her at all, and she was missing out on the feeling she felt now for Sakura. Friendship, companionship. Trust._

_Standing up, Hanabi looked to Sakura and said, "Thank you for training me today, even if it was a short session. I think I shall go now." Returning Sakura's wave, Hanabi turned and headed home. She hoped she could employ her new idea of being more of a friend to her teammates. As she thought of this, she heard and yell, and saw Tetsuyo being hurled out of his two-story high window._

In present time, Hanabi found herself still. A hand appeared in her view and waved frantically. "Uh, Hanabi? You there, you've been daydreaming for quite a while. Plan on waking up?" Tetsuyo looked rather concerned. No matter what he brought to the conversation, Hanabi always reacted rather oddly. Wincing, Tetsuyo thought to himself, _maybe I should just not say anything? Wait…what if she does something crazier? Ah never mind it._

But Hanabi, determined to start things anew, said, "Wait! I'm sorry, I simply lapsed in thought. She was, quite an extraordinary person. I was remembering our brief time together." At this, Tetsuyo stared at her in surprise.

Giving her a smile, he said, "Yeah, Sai-sensei was like that too. He was very quiet but he looked super cool too. He started teaching me the principals of ink jutsu…" With that the two friends headed out on their way towards the main street.

Anashi was walking out of the comic book store when he saw him. Although, privately, Anashi admitted that catching sight of him was a task a blind man couldn't fail. He saw this rather immense boy walking down the road. He had on a red sweater, red shinobi pants, and a yellow circle on the shirt, with the kanji for eat. His headband was worn like a cap, with his hair sticking out in two parts, and the iron plate sticking out like a brim. The boy also had leg warmers. Turning around, he spotted Anashi who was doing a bad job, of hiding a series of laughs.

Squinting at him, the rotund boy made a point of walking, very slowly, and continuing to stare. This was more than enough for Anashi who burst out laughing.

"Gotta joke? Cuz I love jokes. Tell it to me." For a while, Anashi continued to laugh, new fits coming forth from the boy's odd way of speaking. He stressed the first few words, and then sped through the rest, as if catching up with his breath.

Gasping, Anashi managed to choke out, "No…but there's one standing right in front of me."

At that, the boy's eyes narrowed. "Oh, really? Well then…" He bent his arms behind his back and stared to breath heavily.

Anashi managed to wipe his eye, and began to say he was only kidding when he heard a loud whoosh. Yelping and leaping out of instinct. He landed a little early, on the gigantic hands that had slapped together. "Whoa, it was a joke! A joke! I thought you like jokes?!"

The other boy stared up at him. "Not when they make fun of me! I'm Akimichi Choumaru, and I won't let anyone put me down!"

Anashi's rather unfortunate habit of trying to get the last word compelled his next sentence. "Well, you really should have a talk with gravity first, he seems to be the biggest bully in the park."

Choumaru let out a loud !!!!!! And pulled a hand back, and let it fly at Anashi.

Anashi leapt back, grinning. This was going to be fun. Running along the walls, he yelled, "All right, I'm itching for a fight anyhow!"

The Akimichi yelled out, "Expansion Jutsu!!" He became a bowling ball, his chakras began to emit from his sleeves and pants when they suddenly stopped.

"Geez Choumaru, the exam is _after tomorrow_. I'm pretty sure you can wait till then." A boy walked up next to him. Raising his hand, a stream of bugs rose out of the holes used to vent chakra. They entered back into the boy's sleeve, which led to a jacket with a high collar. The boy had a backpack on and wore a pair of wraparound sunglasses. His hair was spiky, but directed towards the back of his head. Besides him, a pretty girl with gray eyes and mid-length wavy black hair laughed, though not unkindly.

"Aw come on Choumaru, we can always head to the ice cream parlor, it's that time of year! Kanke can pay!" The boy besides her sweat dropped, and the girl besides him continued to laugh, though Anashi suspected it was rather false laughter.

"And as for you, don't be mean to Choumaru, or I'll kick your ass." Anashi gulped as the girl turned an angry stare towards him. "I mean it, if you're so willing to make fun of people, you should make sure you're perfect first, which you're not."

At this, the boy named Kanke said, "Forget him, Soutori, let's go… no Choumaru, I mean go home."

As the three set off. Anashi sighed. He had spotted familiar headbands on both other Genin. _Great, my first time meeting other students and every single one of them hates me._

Sighing, Anashi dropped from the top of the wall he had clung to, and continued on his way down the main street. He thought to himself, _did I have to do that? I mean, that's the way _he _always acted. Taunting everyone thinking it was good fun. I really need to drop this habit; it isn't going to work for me._

Continuing down the street, he saw a small group of children in a crowd. Mildly interested, Anashi walked over to check it out. In between the crowd was a girl, sitting on a ledge. The girl's eyes were projected a multitude of colors. Flashing like short range spotlights, the kids "ooh"ed and "aah"ed as she flicked her eyes in different directions, making the show even more entertaining.

Then, she closed her eyes, and then her hair started to change color! It went from its regular honey brown to green, then to blue, red, purple, until Anashi had to close his eyes from the plethora of colors that his eyes were desperate to keep up with.

Laughing the girl said kindly, "Sorry guys, show's over. My sensei is waiting for me, I have to go." The kids mumbled and grumbled as they left. She hopped of the ledge and stretched her arms up into the air. Noticing Anashi she said, "Oh hi there. Can I help you?"

Anashi quickly stated, "That was so cool! How do you do that? Are you a Genin?" Her abilities had surprised Anashi, and he wanted to know if he could learn that too.

She laughed (not unkindly) and said, "Sorry, it's a special ability of mine. And yes, I am a Genin. I presume you're asking because the Chunin exams are coming up, right?"

Anashi nodded. "Yep, that's the topic on the street, cuz it's only the day after when we start." Stopping for a moment, he asked, "So where's your team? Who's your sensei?"

She cast him an odd glance. "You ask a lot of questions you now that? And to be honest, I don't really know, I was going to go look."

Anashi blushed, "Right sorry, well, it was nice meeting you. I'll…see you at the exams." With that, the girl gave him a friendly wave, and leapt away. Anashi sighed. No matter how hard he tried, he always seemed to make people more distant from him. _Maybe I should…just head home._

Sighing he turned back. However, when he did, he crashed into another person. Falling back on his butt, Anashi looked up. _Holy – he's huge!_ He was staring up at a boy (well at least he _thought_ it was a boy) who was head and shoulders taller than him. He had grey-blue hair, and amber eyes. Is face had a chiseled handsomeness to it, as he had a rather thick jaw, and his head was a bit square shaped. He had on brown gloves and wore a unique chest plate, along with regular shinobi pants, and wore Jiraiya like clogs. But what alerted Anashi was the mark of Kirigakure that was etched into the chest plate.

"Excuse me," the giant of a kid said, "I am Tobiushi Suitatsu, and I was to see the Hokage? We're here for the Chunin exams."

Stuttering for a moment, Anashi managed to reply, "Uh, yeah, yeah, sure follow me!"

Naruto stood at the entrance of the village. Well, he had been there for quite a while, and was getting rather annoyed that they hadn't shown up yet. He had walked over and spurred a conversation with Izumo and Kotetsu, who had been rather desperate for something else to do.

The three joked about how quickly Naruto had surpassed them. "You've quite a way, Naruto-kun. Working for the ANBU keeps you in tip-top form right?" asked Izumo.

Naruto responded, "Believe it. I've done some seriously dangerous stuff while with the ANBU. The more I think about it, the more I feel grateful to the old hag for letting me join the normal ranks again. I feel as if I almost lost myself in their services."

At this, the two guards turned a surprised look to each other, while Naruto looked up into the sky admiring the clouds. _Hmm…I can see why Shikamaru loves watching them so much._ Finally Kotetsu turned to him, "We know that you probably aren't allowed to tell us…but is the ANBU that harsh? It seems so much farther away from us when you talk about it like that."

Naruto sighed and stared towards the entrance and before he could start to remember that fatal encounter with the missing-nin in the Sand, he caught sight of them. He almost grinned till he saw the sight of them.

Shino, for once, had no jacket on. His rather small mouth was set very firmly, obviously holding back pain. His left leg was bent at an odd angle and his corresponding arm had a long gash in it. Somehow, his sunglasses were still on. He was carried by Kotetsu, and a quick flash at Kurenai confirmed to Naruto that it was she who had supported him here. She was the least wounded, but looked the most exhausted. Her unique red eyes were tired and lifeless. Behind her slightly, Kiba was walking besides Akamaru, who was limping badly, a quivering back leg held up. Kiba, who kept sending his dog buddy a worried glance, was covered in slashes and bruises. His right eye was shut due to his puffed up cheek. Hinata also, was worn out, and her hair, usually beautiful, long, and raven black, was cut and burnt, and she was weakened.

Naruto stared in shock at his comrades. _Shit! They must've been found out during their reconnaissance mission! And who were they fighting?! All of them were beaten to a pulp?!_ He rushed over, meanwhile summoning five clones. One supported Kurenai, the other, Shino, Hinata, and two held Akamaru above their heads. Naruto cried out, "Don't worry! I'll warn the Hokage!" Turning, he sped towards the tallest tower in the village.

Meanwhile, Anashi had glumly taken a seat on a roof nearby the ice cream shop. He noticed how Soutori, Choumaru, and Kanke seemed happy (well, Kanke wasn't as happy, he had to pay) as they sat around their ice cream bowls. _I…I can't believe that my team isn't like that. We have battle chemistry, but out of missions, we're strangers to each other._ He stared sullenly for a while, and then got up with determination. _I will change that! _Unfortunately, Naruto had other plans for him, as he happened to meet him on his rush to the Kage's office. Catching sight of his apprentice, he promptly commanded, "Anashi! You need to get back to Grandma Tsunade's office! Tell Team Kurenai's back, and that they are in bad shape!"

Baffled for a moment, Anashi stared blankly for a just a moment, but only for a moment, before turning around and rushing back towards the tower. Naruto turned back, and headed towards the hospital where he was sure the Team was current placed. He needed to find out what happened!

Meanwhile Anashi was swiftly bounding from rooftop to rooftop. Unbeknownst to him, his teammates had seen him speeding away and leapt after him. When they caught up, Anashi turned a surprised look to them and said with half-hearted smugness, "Geez, couldn't let me be a solo hero huh?" but his worried look prevented an outburst.

Tetsuyo quickly asked, "What's up though? I've never seen you so harried." Hanabi did not add to the question but stared intently at Anashi, waiting for an answer.

Blunt for once, Anashi hurriedly replied, "Something is definitely wrong. Team Kurenai had an unexpected homecoming in the form of a brutal beating. From the way Naruto-sensei looked, they were lucky to be alive." Tetsuyo's eyes widened and Anashi noted something he might not have a few days ago. It was the trademark fear that Tetsuyo had admitted about. His eyes darted and his gulped many times. _How did I not notice?_

Hanabi also, was training an eye on their teammate and did something totally unnatural. She placed a palm on his shoulder and gave him a comforting smile. "Fear not, Tetsuyo, the Hokage will take care of it."

Nodding, and trying to steel his nerves, Tetsuyo composed his face and stared ahead. _I have a very bad feeling about this…_

As they leapt Hanabi noticed something moving toward them in the distance. However, they reached them sooner than she expected. She noticed a boy, quite a bit older than them, with windswept black hair, and clear blue eyes, and a slightly tan complexion. Besides him a (rather handsome) red haired man who was taller and paler than his partner, and wore an eye patch. Also, was a girl clad mainly in blue, and had shoulder length black hair with brown and blonde highlights.

As they passed by, the blue eyed one turned a surprised glance to Anashi and said, "Well if it isn't little brother?!" Said little brother would have stopped to glare before bounding off, but in the magnitude of the moment, he simply sped off past him, ignoring him completely.

Akahatsu, the red headed, eye-patched member who Hanabi had taken a liking to smirked slightly at his blue-eyed teammate, Mareshin Haki. "That didn't work out too well huh?" The black haired shinobi comically winced, but a sad smile slightly touched his lips.

"What are you talking about? He glanced in my direction!" Brushing his hair Mareshin turned to the girl besides him, dressed prominently in blue. "Where was it Anko said she wanted us to meet her?"

She didn't say anything for a while, then, uneasily said, "Ichiraku's, her birthday, remember?" However, this didn't seem to concern her more than as to what had just occurred. However, Mareshin's stark refusal to talk about it, made her decide against pressing the matter.

Meanwhile, Team 7 had reached the doors and was banging on them loudly. The door opened to reveal a very tired looking Hokage, who at their interruption, appeared more like an angry lioness than a woman. "And to _WHAT_ do I owe this unpleasant pleasure?"

Gulping, Anashi managed to say, "It's Team Kurenai, Hokage-sama. They've returned badly injured even though Kurenai-sensei left to them two weeks ago."

Alarm lighted Tsunade's eyes, and a bit of suspicion, as she said "Quickly, to the hospital!"

Upon reaching it, Tsunade entered the room. Inside was an unresponsive Team Kurenai, and a frowning Naruto. After being inquired to his puzzlement, Naruto responded, "Something isn't right. They're unresponsive, and somehow managed to make it back from God knows where, despite their massive injuries."

It was at that moment that the wounded Team, turned a uniform, emotionless look to the Hokage. Tsunade's eyes widened and roared, "Everyone out!!" She grabbed Hanabi in one arm, Anashi in the other, and her prominent chest crashed into to Tetsuyo's face, as she leapt from the window, Naruto's yell of surprise was drowned out by the huge explosion caused by the explosive clones.

People stared in shock as their leader landed in the crowd, (even a cat seemed miffed at this unusual event) and were mortified to notice a boy stuck in her chest. Also noticing the Inuzuka, she shook him off, and turned to were Naruto landed, as well as dropping the two children. She marched over and snapped, "Naruto, what the hell?! How did you not notice they were fakes?!"

Naruto, still in shock, could somehow put on an angry face, "Look, hag, I did check! I was on to _something_ but they reacted before I had a chance to find out! Besides, that jutsu is unique! If you had waited a moment before getting there, I might've figured it out!"

Narrowing her eyes till they nearly resembled Orochimaru's, she snapped, "Do you honestly believe that I was supposed to know a trained ninja wouldn't figure out an enemy's jutsu?"

Naruto shook his head frantically, replying "No, you don't understand; that jutsu was unique. It grafted a bit of the victim's chakra, and put it on a dummy loaded with explosive tags. That way, the chakra acts sort of as an ID. At least, that's what I got from my check on it."

Tsunade heaved an angry sigh. "I'll have to get a team on this, right away." She stared up into the sky, thinking for a moment. The bystanders, started to fade away, some men chased away by their wives, children running off to play, or even stray ninja turned away as they confirmed the Hokage was alright. Even the miffed cat seemed to have forgiven them, for disturbing its morning.

Instantly, Anashi said, "Send us, Hokage-sama! Naruto-sensei can lead the te--".

His exclamation was cut off immediately by the Hokage's deadly glare. "Absolutely not; send a Genin team? Look at him!" She was referring to Tetsuyo, who was still unconscious, with an expression of heavenly content on his sleeping face, and a bleeding nose to boot. Continuing, the Godaime continued, "And I can't send Naruto, there are too many things I need him for in the village, so no go for him." Pausing slightly she said, "I _do _have another team in mind though, who could get the job done soon enough."

Bounding off towards the main street (with a few ANBU discreetly following) she called back to Naruto, "Get the Genin home, tomorrow's the big day."

Naruto nodded and turned to Kakashi's former students. He wondered who she could possibly send out, many of the times he would've sent were already out on missions. _Unless of course she sends _his_ team, I trust them too, plus that scary snake woman is with them. _

Arriving at Ichiraku's, The blonde kage spotted who she was looking for. One of the four she was looking for one was eagerly slurping down ramen, two were in a conversation, and one was crying over his anorexic wallet.

"Well, good to see your having a good time," The Hokage announced, with a tone that suggested today wasn't the day for good times. All listeners winced, knowing what was to come next.

"Yep, I'm very sure you were aware of that explosion and your mission. It was you, I believe, Akahatsu that had that cute little cat walking around spying on us."

Grinning sheepishly, the redhead baldly stated, "What, was I supposed to trust a couple of kids to protecting you? The cat would have been bigger, but my sadness made me lose control and I summoned the kitty."

The kage lifted her eyebrows at the mention of sadness, and he gestured with his flat wallet. Rolling her eyes, she snapped, "Unimportant. You know your mission. Find and recover Team Kurenai. If that is impossible," She steeled herself, "remove their evidence."

All four nodded and bounded off. Sighing to herself, Tsunade though, _I really need a bottle of sake right about now…_

The next morning, the ambience was absolutely supercharged. There, Naruto, Sakura, Sai, Ino, and Gai stood at a hallway, where their Genin had just passed through, into the waiting rooms. Breathing deeply, Gai thrust out a confident thumbs up and a winning smile, "Don't you worry guys, they'll be just fine! You guys went through it yourselves, and so did I! There is absolutely no reason to be afraid!" Adjusting his face to an overconfident smile (Almost a smirk really) he added, "My kids will blow yours outta the competition so fast they won't even feel it!"

He looked up to see them not even paying attention to him.

Naruto stated, "I wasn't thinking about them, I was thinking about Team Kurenai."

Sakura said balefully, "I was thinking about Kakashi-sensei quite a bit more."

Sai added with a smile, "They aren't even technically our apprentices, so it doesn't matter to us."

Ino sighed and said, "I'm just waiting for Shikamaru to come back, he's been gone so long."

Within the room, Anashi sat with his teams at one of the many benches. Clustered around his team, were the other teams. _This is crazy! When are they gonna begin? Are they making us nervous_ or what?

Nervous indeed, everyone other Genin in the room looked a bit nervous. Tetsuyo, who hadn't been too worried sighted an old women and a middle aged man. The shock of seeing them sent him into a panic were Hanabi had to knock him out to calm down.

Anashi took a visual tour of the room, hoping to see the Genin Naruto mentioned after Anashi's failed attempt to meet some. He spotted two other ninja who appeared to be siblings, due to their round faces, and identical slightly large and round eyes. Surprised, he noticed both had headphones on. The boy had rather large headphones that wrapped around the back of his head, and the girl had neat little headphones that Anashi only noticed because one had a small antennae springing from the top.

Both were bobbing their heads at certain beats. The boy's were energetic and wild head bobs, his face clenched and unfocused, meanwhile the girl beside him pleasantly bobbed her head from side to side a smile on her face.

Anashi walked up to the pair and held up a hand and called, "Hi!"

The girl noticed him, pulled out an earpiece, and replied, "Oh hello! Nice to meet you." She turned to gesture to her brother, and noticed his wild motions. Wincing and giving Anashi an embarrassed smile, she proceed to wrench off the head set.

The boy stopped his wild motions, and with an expression of shock, angrily turned to his sister and yelled, "Hey! What the heck?! Um, give 'em back!"

Shaking her head, she pointed to Anashi, who was simply bemused at this point said, "Sorry to interrupt your music, I just wanted to meet you before we all head in…you know, since we're all Konoha-nin."

The boy's mood cleared up quickly, "Oh, cool, arrite. Hope to see you later—in competition that is."

Anashi noted the light of fire in his eyes and grinned back. "Same here. By the way, the name's Anashi Haki"

The music-boy replied, "Jyushou Shunsei." His sister, Jyushin rolled her eyes. "Boys."

In a shady forest, a group of four headed back towards the Leaf Village. The leader of the bunch was a tall man, with a spiky ponytail that jutted upward from the back of his head. Behind him, were three girls, who appeared to be having a pleasant conversation.

"I'm telling you, 'Sume, you need to get more sun-time, you are _way_ too pale." This was uttered by the pretty blonde in the back, whose outfit was predominately pink.

Besides her, a rather tall girl awkwardly shuffled her feet, and replied in a voice slightly tinged with huskiness, "You think? I mean, I thought, with all the missions, I would have enough, erm, 'sun-time'."

On the other side of the blonde, a dark brown haired girl with a beige jacket thrown over a white shirt, along with shinobi pants narrowed her almond shaped eyes at the blonde. Turning to the tall girl she joking said, "Nah, don't worry about it 'Sume, some girl's paleness accents them. Not everyone needs to get a tan, Akihime."

The blonde, Akihime, shot the beige jacketed girl a sharp look than sighed, "I guess you'll just never get it Deina, a girl's most important aspect is her looks." Akihime ended the sentence in a drawn out, sing-songy voice.

Deina shook her head, but smiled, "There's more to life than looks, 'Hime."

Akihime gave her a look that said she wasn't convinced, "Oh yeah? And what else-"

"Enough! Jeez, lame as it was for the higher ups to give me a team, they gave me one with a bunch of _females. _I really don't want to hear your pointless prattling for any longer." The leader snapped, rubbing his aching neck.

Deina smirked, and a mischievous smile plastered itself across her face. Kneeling to the ground, she formed the Rat hand seal and whispered, "Shadow Possesion Jutsu…"

The solid black shape of her shadowed writhed, and warped itself into a straight black mass, and curled like as snake towards her sensei, jumping from tree shadow to tree shadow, like a stray dog after an unwilling owner. Finally the two shadows, the bending one, and the one belonging to the sensei, met and merged together. Everyone stopped, Deina was smirking as her sensei dropped to a crouch with a "Crap, not again." Jurumusume ('Sume for short) seemed to be holding back a laugh, while Akihime looked on disapprovingly.

Deina boldly shouted, "No way! We're not moving from here till you apologize!"

"No." Came the emotionless response.

Grinning, Deina slowly turned her head and said, "Come on, you can do it." As she spoke, she started to slowly say, "I. Am. Sorry. For. Not. Appreciating. You. Guys."

Smirking, and standing up, Shikamaru Nara said, "You'll never make me apologize, _and_," he continued as the shadow untangled itself from his, and Deina pouted, "how many times have I told you that Shadow Possession doesn't control speech?" Smiling he added, "Training you wouldn't be half as troublesome if you remembered even just a little of what I saw."

Shikamaru noticed Jumurusume looking up and copied her actions. Whistling as he noticed the sun beginning its descent, he sighed, "Damn, Fate's against me again." Turning down, he quickly said, "Guys, we're running out of time to get back, the first test of the Chuunin exam is about to start." Quickly, the four leapt toward the great big doors of Konoha.

Breathing hard, Tetsuyo kept his eyes shut and let out a long breath. Seeing those senior citizens had sent him into a panic and he had fainted. Now, as the world slowly faded back into existence, he noticed there were a gaggle of Genins around him, but some of them had different symbols on their headbands; most of them were girls.

In the center, an exasperated Hanabi stood, apparently having recently given up trying to disband the group of apprentices. The girls stared wide-eyed at Tetsuyo, some giggling while others seemed genuinely concerned. Still another one was petting his two ninja hounds. The boys in the pack displayed a wide range of contempt in the form of facepalms, solemn headshakes, or staring in dismay at Tetsuyo. Laughing slightly to lighten the mood, he asked, "How long was I out?"

A girl with short powder-blue hair, and crouched with her arms slung around her arms shyly responded, "Only about five minutes." Another girl, who had very light, shoulder length brown hair (Almost beige) giggled and said, "Do you have a fear of old people? You looked at those people over there and you fainted." That, apparently bold, comment sent her into another fit of giggles as Tetsuyo smiled weakly, trying to pretend he didn't hear her question.

Meanwhile, behind the beige haired girl, Hanabi sighed loudly in frustration and vainly attempted to disperse the crdowd again, "He wasn't _afraid_ he just had a problem of _nerves_. It's normal, he just went over the top." This earned her a few disapproving glances from the surrounding gaggle of girls, and Hanabi let out an angry puff, and walked away.

Meanwhile, a boy had lent a hand to Tetsuyo, who had gladly accepted the help, and picked himself up. The solemn quite boy had dirty blonde hair, and wore a light green karate gi, with a darker green shirt, wristbands, headband (his Konoha headband) and karate shoes. The gi was sleeveless and bandages ran down the length of his arms. Patting Tetsuyo on the shoulder, he inquired, "You alright? You looked really conked out there."

Sighing, Tetsuyo responded, "Yeah, I'm okay, thanks. I've always had problem with nerves, and I kinda went over the top on that one."

The solemn boy nodded and wryly added, "Well, the amusing irony is that your nervous panic attack seems to have lightened the mood in the area. By the way, the name's Tobiushi." Nodding (half surprised that such a strong kid could be so nice) and amazed, Tetsuyo quickly looked around the room and indeed, noticed the atmosphere and mood of the many, many Genin seemed to have lightened. _Haha, _Tetsuyo thought, _who would've guessed, me as a morale booster. _Patting him again on the shoulder, Tobiushi walked back towards his team, the same girl with the powder-blue hair, and a girl with honey brown hair that was tied into a ponytail.

Meanwhile, the girl who had been petting Kuro and Shiro, a girl with short choppy white hair smiled at Tetsuyo and said, "I like your dogs, they're really cute." Shiro barked happily and rolled on his back while Kuro stood in strict silence, deigning only to wag his tail.

Quickly, Tetsuyo smiled at the pretty girl and said, "Yeah, well they're just chips off this ol' block." In what he hoped was a winning smile.

Rolling her eyes, the girl replied dryly, "I think I like the dogs better." Stumped, and with a triumphant Hanabi laughing behind him, Tetsuyo frowned and turned away.

Meanwhile, a boy across the room smirked, and stared at Tetsuyo with the kind of look that said, _Yeah, sorry pal, I didn't find your weakness funny._ Confidently, the bandanna clad Sand-nin walked calmly over to him. For a moment, he simply stared down at him, while Tetsuyo met his stare.

Hoping not to cause rife, Tetsuyo quickly asked, "Is there a problem?" Besides him, Kuro and Shiro started growling low in their throats.

Snickering and energetically swinging his toothpick around is his mouth, The Sand boy quickly responded, "You bet there is, bro. The Chuunin exam is a serious test, and they tend not to let babies in, you know, for fear of giving us real competitors the wrong impression, you know? If you thought you were goin' to a serious competition, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't like finding out that there are a bunch of weaklings in the running right?" He delivered this speech with a confident, almost lazy look in his eyes, and never let the infuriatingly arrogant smile go. Tetsuyo furiously opened his mouth to respond when another voice called out.

"Well if that's so, then I might as well quit out of this exam, as I don't feel like competing with a baby like you." Tetsuyo turned in surprise to see Anashi and a boy beside him, who had on a white jacket with blue outlines, and pants under the same design. He also had headphones wrapped around his neck. It was this boy who had boldly challenged the Sand Genin.

Turning in mild surprise to him, the Genin replied, "Hey, arrite then, spirited I see. I'll answer your call elsewhere."

Anashi shot back, "Scared?"

Returning fire at top speed, the ninja replied, "Not really bro. I answer challenges like that on the battlefield." Turning to Jyushou, he added, "Kazemaru Mugensabaku."

Jyushou nodded and replied, "Jyushou Shunsei."

Anashi, determined not to be left out, called, "Don't forget me, pal, I'm not afraid to answer a challenge either, Anashi Haki." To this, Tetsuyo stared at Anashi in shock and anger, while behind him, Hanabi winced.

Kazemaru nodded and said, "I'll remember that." With that he lazily sloped backed to his team. A girl beside him, wearing neon-orange tinted glasses, appearing busy with fixing a cloak over a large, uneven bundle said uncertainly, "That's not like you, Kazemaru. Why'd you do that?"

On the other side, the same beige haired girl who had circled around Tetsuyo before nodded vigorously and added, "There was no need to pick on him, especially since your not the type to do that."

Kazemaru, plopped comfortably into his chair and said, "Yeah, yeah I know. But, we're the only Suna team that has a shot. If we don't make it to the finals, it'll embarrass The Sand Village!"

The beige haired girl rolled her eyes, and the girl with the glasses laughed and said, "Your father is still stuffing you with that nationalist stuff Kazemaru?"

Kazemaru refused to respond and turned away.

Hoever, the other Genin were still riled up at the confrontation. No one seemed to notice, but all Suna teams seemed to have moved to one side, and the tense situation only rose when two Konoha teams came barreling in.

"Are we late?!" This exclamation came from Choumaru, and Soutori. Kanke, on the other hand, remained quite, but attentive for the answer.

Anashi whipped around, recognizing the voice and said, "No your not, but now was possibly the worst time to walk in."

Behind Kanke, were Akihime, Deina, and Jumurusume. A grin lighted Deina's face, as she called out triumphantly, "Yes! We're on time!" Turning to the hall behind her she cried, "We made it sensei!"

From the hallway, a responding lazy voice drifted, "Alright."

To the left of the room, sat a very calm trio. One boy had silvery hair that was swept back. His calm, icy blue eyes swept the scene, and he adjusted his headband. To his side was the pretty girl with the short white hair.

The girl turned to a very large boy beside her and said, "Tsk, tsk. These other kids are so immature, getting riled about stupid things like fainting boys, eh Suitatsu."

The same large boy who had asked Anashi directions for Tsunade rolled his eyes. "Agreed; pointless arguments stemming from a coward challenging another. How foolish."

The silver haired boy turned to the girl and said, "Toudo-chan, boys will be boys. We love to fight."

Toudori smirked and said, "Not that fainty-boy. He seems like that artsy type. And don't call me "Toudo-chan."

Finally, after what seemed like ages, the door at the back opened, while the front entrance closed. Stepping inside the room was none other than Ibiki Morino., followed by a group of tough looking ninjas.

"Alright whelps! Sit in order of country and shut your traps! The Chuunin Exam begins now, and I don't expect to deal with a bunch of whiny brats!"


End file.
